Chinese democracy activist sentenced for online writing

New York, March 25, 2011--The harsh sentencing of a pro-democracy activist and journalist is yet another example of China's growing intolerance of independent expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

A court in
western Sichuan province sentenced Liu Xianbin to 10 years in prison for
inciting subversion of state power through articles published on overseas
websites between April 2009 and February 2010, according to The Associated Press.
One was titled "Constitutional Democracy for China: Escaping Eastern
Autocracy," the BBC
reported. Liu also signed the pro-democracy Charter 08 petition drafted by Liu
Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel
Peace Prize, who is serving an 11-year term on the same charge. Both
sentences are unusually heavy. The charge normally carries a penalty of up to
five years in prison except in serious cases.

Police detained Liu in June 2010, international news reports
said. Chinese police have since rounded up several more bloggers and activists
in unusual numbers following online calls for anti-government demonstrations
modeled on recent Jasmine revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa,
according to CPJ
research.

"Liu Xianbin has every right to express his opinions on
overseas websites without facing jail time," said Bob
Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. "The harsh 10-year
sentence is a troubling indicator of what lies ahead for anyone sharing
information or opinion which challenges the Chinese Communist Party."

Liu has already served two and a half years in prison in China for involvement in 1989 anti-government
protests in Tiananmen Square, and ten years of
a 13-year prison sentence he was given in 1999 after founding a branch of the
China Democracy Party, according to The New York Times.

China has
been at or near the top of CPJ's list of countries that
imprison the most journalists for over a decade, challenged only by Iran.